WRITERS: Glen Whitman & Robert Chiappetta[SPOILERS] Fringe plays the "infection card" far too often for my liking, but "The Bishop Revival" nevertheless felt a lot stronger and became more complex than I was expecting from the teaser, where a Jewish family wedding descended into chaos when fourteen of the groom's guests died of asphyxiation at their well-ventilated venue, seconds after an elderly lady appeared to point the finger at a suspicious stranger lurking nearby...
DIRECTOR: Adam Davidson
GUEST CAST: Lauren Attadia, Aaron Brooks, Magda Harout, Dan Joffre, Nancy Linari, Al Miro, Leonard Tenisci, Max Train & Brendan Zub
Olivia (Anna Torv), Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Walter (John Noble) are inevitably called in to investigate the tragedy, with Walter eventually coming to believe that somebody released a virus that can actually target specific types of people, according to their hair colour, height, blood type, etc. As is typical of most Fringe stories, Walter even has some history with such a selective contagion -– or, rather, his late father had. It turns out that Dr. Robert Bishov (who emigrated to America in 1943 after working as an allied spy in Nazi Germany[*]), had actually been involved in devising a biological weapon for the Third Reich that could target certain people – which would have come in handy for a government intent on exterminating various "sub-classes" to create "das Herrenvolk" (the Master Race.) It would appear that someone has continued his father's work and is currently trialling what appears to be a breakthrough...A killer virus and Nazis. Throw in some sharks and you have the ultimate Discovery Channel weekend marathon. "The Bishop Revival" was a run-of-the-mill story in many ways, but there were some excellent character moments that laced the whole hour. In particular, it was again fascinating (and rather frightening) to see Walter revert to his pre-asylum mental state in one scene -- when he realized that Peter had sold his father's treasured collection of books for money. I also enjoyed the notion that the German scientist behind the virus was over 100 years old, having apparently found a way to prolong his life through science, mainly because it was something that the main characters didn't come to realize themselves. I quite like it when the audience know, or suspect, something that the characters on the show are yet to discovery.
I also enjoyed the investigation into retrieving Robert Bishov's coded books he smuggled out of Germany, which had been bought by an artist and turned into fascist collages and mosaics for a project. It was a fun hour, with some nice moments to its credits, but I'm currently a little frustrated that we've had such little movement with the inter-dimensional shape-shifting villains, William Bell, or even Olivia's "special powers" she was given as a child. The season appears to have slipped into standalone story mode of late, and it feels like the season's gone very slack.28 JANUARY 2010: FOX, 9/8c
[*] Yes, Fringe's fascination with Germany continues, and giving us confirmation of the Bishop family's origins makes it clearer why Walter wrote that manifesto from season 1 in German.
